would love some feedback

jamiek917

So over the past few months, ive tried a few different calorie intakes, and found that i seem to lose weight when i stick to the 1600-1800 range (try for the higher end of the scale on lifting days)- this range, when im being diligent, is enough to keep me from being hungry, enjoy my food, and fuel my workouts (my cheating is due to lack of willpower at social events and from people bringing stuff into work all the damn time... not due to actual hunger). this is a little less than my TDEE-20% tho. when i had a consistent month around 2000 cals or so daily, the scale didnt budge at all (and im still 25-30 lbs from where i want to be, so the number should be moving!)

here are my numbers: (as is... not -20%)
TDEE on sedentary is 1929
TDEE with moderate exercise 3-5x a week- 2492
TDEE with heavy exercise 6-7x a week- 2773

Not sure if im more moderate or heavy-- i work out 5-6x a week... lifting 3x a week, 2 cardio days, and softball 1x a week (softball ends this week for the season). i work at a desk job for 12 hrs a day, 3-4x a week (but usually get a few long walks in on night shift).

either way, a few months ago i started entering in my exercise cals as 1 so i dont eat back my cals, and just stick to my range instead. (i dont ever track housework or walking, unless im walking 3+ miles at a good speed, when i go for long walks with friends. so my exercise cals are all gym/running/sports based)

So my question:
a MFP friend suggested an option that worked for her when she lost weight: set my cals to a sedentary TDEE-20% and then eat back some-->all of my exercise cals. so I would be 1525ish on non workout days, and likely 1800-2200 on workout days, depending on the workout (obviously a good HRM would be beneficial, since i know the MFP estimates are incorrect. but even if i use the MFP estimate, i could just go a little lower than what they claim im burning).

Obviously i need to find my willpower again and be consistent... period. I need to stop going over so frequently- 1x a week going a few hundred over is acceptable... but theres no reason to do it 3-4 days a week!!

so which method do you all think would be best? sorry its so long... thanks in advance!

shutupandlift13

TDEE at sedentary or lightly active then create your deficit from there, 20% is a good starting place (BMR is a good number to check this against, smaller people closer to goal might need to scale back the deficit a little more, like 15%).

This is a common mistake that people make while judging activity level, IMO. Unfortunately, 3-5 workouts of 1-1.5 hours per week doesn't negate 12 hours of mostly sitting at a desk so you are relatively still sedentary. The moderately active to highly active activity levels are reserved for those who work in manual labor jobs like laborers, carpenters, etc (highly active) or someone who is on their feet most of the day (moderately active).

Going back to the 1500-1600 on rest days and closer to 1800-1900 on active days is a good place to start, especially since it was working in the past. I personally don't track the cals burned for two reasons: 1) MFP is wildly inaccurate and 2) I am trying to stay away from the mentality of rewarding myself with food or on the flip side if I overeat, punishing myself with exercise. With lifting, a little cardio and an active hobby like softball you are establishing good habits with things you enjoy doing that will result in the progress and changes that you're hoping for. To me its not necessary to quantify those things anymore than I was able to get to all of my scheduled workouts for the week this week. Not sure if that makes sense or not. I've just tried to personally steer myself away from this idea of working out to eat and instead working out because I want to and I enjoy it. Removing the calories associated with exercise and this mentality of eating back those calories has helped for me.

vjohn04

^^ agree. However, I do the logging of the calorie burned thingy--- but that's just me, not suggesting you do it.